Today Jon talks with Eugenia Zalis, CMO for one of the most iconic sweet brands in the world, Oreo. We talk about their "stay playful" positioning, incredible brand collaborations (with the likes of Coca-Cola and Post Malone) and some of the interesting innovations the brand has worked on.

Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
00:46 - Eugenia’s marketing journey
01:33 - What can we learn from the Unilever approach to marketing?
02:27 - How Dove turned into the brand it is today
05:42 - How Eugenia started with Oreo
06:33 - The “stay playful” positioning
09:49 - The best way to eat an Oreo cookie
11:08 - Managing a 110 year old brand
12:14 - The Oreo playbook for marketing in different regions
15:18 - Oreo’s collab with Coca-Cola
18:49 - Oreo’s approach to innovation
21:14 - System1 testing on Oreo innovations
23:40 - Innovations from around the world
25:23 - The surprising Coca-Cola collaboration
25:52 - Oreo’s SuperBowl ad in 2024
28:34 - Winning a Cannes Lion for a tweet
30:34 - Why is humour not used more
35:37 - Oreo x Post Malone collab
38:07 - Creative process for collabs
39:02 - How to lead a $4.5b organisation
43:57 - Advice to aspiring CMOs

Cadillac is an iconic American brand who are navigating the shift to electrification in the automotive industry and have partnered up with 72andSunny to launch their brand new campaign “Let’s Take the Cadillac. So today, Melissa Grady Dias, CMO of Cadillac, and Marianne Malina, President of 72andSunny join Jon to talk about working with a new agency and launching their first campaign together.

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro
03:53 - Marianne’s background
06:49 - How to manage a brand like Cadillac
08:34 - How EV’s are changing the industry
13:53 - How do you change your marketing for EVs
15:08 - Insights and inception of “Let’s Take the Cadillac”
17:56 - Developing the “Let’s Take the Cadillac” campaign
21:41 - How to launch a new car
23:39 - Building the campaign for different formats
25:42 - 72andSunny and Cadillac’s first campaign together
28:11 - Challenging the conformity in car advertising
30:48 - Why brand is so important for car purchasing
32:31 - Leading the marketing agenda inside a big org like General Motors
34:24 - In car Cadillac Car-aoke
35:22 - Melissa’s song
36:13 - Coolest feature about Escalade IQ
38:37 - Creating a luxury experience
39:27 - Choosing your car as CMO of Cadillac
40:57 - Creating a premium vehicle
42:53 - Thoughts on the Escalade IQ

Rob Mayhew joins Jon for bonus episode, talking about his big move to New York City, becoming a full-time content creator and how brands can work with creators like him effectively.

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro
01:39 - Why Rob moved to NYC
04:20 - Rob’s new YouTube show
05:47 - London vs New York for marketers
08:00 - Rob’s approach to content in 2025
11:00 - Rob’s view on the future of the social platforms
14:17 - How System1’s ad testing works
17:27 - Rob’s funniest posts on LinkedIn
18:46 - Rob’s process for making content
20:16 - Any trends that are different in the US than UK
21:43 - Thoughts on the creator economy
23:09 - The Poppi vending machine backlash
24:22 - How does Rob plan his content?
25:18 - Different audiences for TikTok and LinkedIn
25:38 - Rory Sutherland’s TikTok
26:48 - Power of B2B content creation